Red's Health Tips

I mentioned my book to two people today. They told me that they had tried diets (not lifestyle changes) in the past and it worked for a short while and then they hit a plateau and didn’t lose any weight for weeks. It was interesting that these two conversations were nearly back to back and at two different places.

A weight loss plateau is caused by your body responding to your lower caloric intake. It can last days or weeks. Your body knows what your energy intake and output are and tries to balance the load. It will actually reduce your body’s metabolism to respond to a rapid decrease in calories. It is your body’s protective mechanism to keep you from starving. It makes total sense.

How do you counter a weight loss plateau? If you reduce your total calories by a little versus a lot, then you probably won’t see much, if any plateau. A slight reduction is ignored by your body. You are trending down slightly and your body will continue at its current energy output and you will gradually (very slowly) lose weight. However, if you drop your caloric intake significantly, then you can expect to be on a weight loss plateau.

It is not difficult to get off the plateau, but it will take effort from you to counter your body’s natural response to lowered calories. What happens when a young person goes to a military boot-camp? They are exercised until they are tired beyond belief and they are fed a balanced meal, albeit smaller portions than they typically ate at home. What happened? They had an abrupt change in diet and exercise. This startled their metabolic system and it had to increase to meet the demands of their physical exercise. The lower caloric intake resulted in lost weight.

You have to do something similar. If you have been spending 20 minutes doing cardio, then you have to change your routine. Maybe you increase your intensity, or lift weights, or extend your cardio session. You must change something in your energy pattern to make your body burn more fat – hence increase your metabolism. Once your metabolism responds to the increased energy needs, then you will start losing weight again.

Weight loss is an interesting subject. I’ve read hundreds of articles about weight loss and nutrition, exercise and a myriad of other related and not so related subjects. Weight loss is not just a simple eat less and exercise more. It is very complicated, especially the older you get. Your body systems literally degrade – they don’t operate as efficiently as they did when you were younger. Weight loss is more difficult when you are older.

I’ve been on plateaus in the past with Atkins and with other types of diets. I’ve had some great success and some not-so-great success. I recommend that a change in protein type helps. It did for me. On the Atkins Diet I ate beef primarily with a little chicken. I changed to fish and my plateau disappeared. I had been on a plateau for a week or longer and I really don’t know if I had kept doing what I was doing that I would have crashed through that plateau or not. It may have been coincidental that eating fish caused me to lose weight immediately (within a couple of days I was losing a half-pound to a pound a day).

What I did not know at that time was the relationship between your body and energy income/outgo and metabolic readjustment. It makes total sense to me today that your body will protect you as much as it can. If you were stranded some place without food, your body would pull in the reins on your metabolism to keep you from starving faster than you would otherwise. Therefore, you have to overcome that mechanism to break through your plateau.

I’ve noticed in the past that you may have more than one plateau. The first one comes when you burn through your excess water weight and begin burning fat. That fat burning process appears to initiate a change in your metabolic system for self-preservation. Whether you ride it out or bust through your plateau makes no difference. Once you are through it, you are losing weight again.

At some time in the future you may encounter another plateau. Is this plateau equal to the real calorie intake and calorie expended equation of your body? It might be. If you are approaching your desired weight, it may very well be the right place to plateau – at or near your goal. If not, then you may have to ‘trick’ your body again by making changes to stimulate your metabolism.

Stimulating your metabolism is done usually through exercise, but it can also be done with fasting. Specifically intermittent fasting – stop eating for a 24 hour period. Intermittent fasting speeds up your metabolism, lowers your insulin levels, reduces oxidative stress and slows down your aging processes. Intermittent really means intermittent – not extended (more than 24 hours at a time).

I have not done an intermittent fast in a long time. I think the last ‘planned’ intermittent fast was in my preparatory days for Vietnam. We had an Escape and Evasion Course in beautiful downtown Warner Springs, California. There was nothing beautiful and there was no downtown. It was all scrub tree and desolation. I didn’t eat except for what our instructors were able to catch and kill. I learned one thing very well during that five-day event – that I could survive on water and feel great about it.

Ever since that course, I have eaten something every day. Some days get extended so that I’m not sure I went over 24 hours or not. However, with my new lifestyle I personally think that a 24 hour liquid replenishment session makes sense. By liquid replenishment I mean lots of water, tea and maybe a soup or two.  This, of course, includes nutritional supplementation to make up for lost nutrients contained in the foods I would normally eat.  I would also probably include a fiber or two to keep the plumbing working.

I honestly have not been that hungry on my current lifestyle change program and I eat primarily when I feel hunger pangs. Those hunger pangs are not very strong. And, in reality, I am eating many times to avoid potential hunger pangs because it is getting late and I don’t want to have something to eat just before I go to bed.

As I am writing this, I am thinking to myself that it might be advantageous to try a 24 hour water/tea fast just to see what it feels like and record the results in my blog. More on that thought as I approach the end of my 28 day Fast Start Program.

Red O’Laughlin
Your Prosperity Professor
281-437-8114 H/W 281-687-1188 C

Got to bed after 0300 this morning and woke up near noontime. Went to church and started organizing the rest of my day. I’ve been reflecting about the lessons learned at the seminar I went to in New Orleans. Lots of things to digest. I have heard many before. I learned a few new ones also. I’ve been told, and I can attest to it also, that you need to hear something seven times before you really know and understand a new concept. I’ve heard things before and was able to spout them off and sound like I knew what I was saying, but it wasn’t until hearing it many times that I truly understood what was being said.

We drove up to The Woodlands to pick up my granddaughter late this afternoon. That trip made it a grand total of a thousand miles in the past few days. On the trip back to Houston I discussed insulin resistance with a friend of mine, Vincent Vecchioni. When you are younger your insulin responds very efficiently to carbohydrates that you eat. Insulin resistance develops in some people for a variety of reasons. One of the most prevalent is an overdose of carbohydrates on a daily basis.

Moderation is key to your new lifestyle. You have the capability to reverse insulin resistance, but it takes time. It took times, years in fact, to develop insulin resistance. Chromium and vitamin K2 are two nutrients that can help you reverse insulin resistance. True cinnamon, not cassia cinnamon, and crocin can help you reverse insulin resistance. There are a few other supplements that work to rework your insulin resistance.

Total insulin response to eating carbohydrates can be decreased with exercise and soluble fiber. Additionally, one of the most powerful actions you can take to reduce total insulin is to reduce your carbohydrate and total caloric intake. If you do not have insulin resistance and you want to supercharge your insulin response you can improve your insulin sensitivity. Curcumin, vanadium, chlorogenic acid, chromium, magnesium and omega-3 fatty acids can improve the sensitivity of your insulin response.

Fasting has an amazing effect on insulin sensitivity. Teas, particularly green, black and oolong, can improve your insulin sensitivity. Another thing that can improve insulin sensitivity is to increase your free testosterone levels. Foods rich in phytoandrogens can raise your free testosterone levels. This would include celery, corn, cucumbers, kale, spinach and radishes. DHEA, zinc and vitamin B5 can increase your free testosterone levels.

Both men and women can have too much estrogen or the wrong kind of estrogen. Excess estrogen can cause your body to store more fat. Excess estrogen can cause your free testosterone levels to decrease. Alcohol inhibits estrogen from clearing your bloodstream. Grapefruit can inhibit your liver from breaking down estrogen. Isoflavones found in soy can help your liver metabolize excess estrogen. Resveratrol has been shown to improve your liver’s ability to remove excess estrogen.

The things I mentioned above are just part of the equation. Insulin is not just a carbohydrate thing, so to speak. There are many processes going on in your body that can affect the quality and sensitivity of your insulin response. The more efficient your insulin response, the better you are at reducing your fat reserves.

Red O’Laughlin
Your Prosperity Professor
281-437-8114 H/W 281-687-1188C